Al Jazeera suspends two journalists over Holocaust revisionism video
The Qatari state-funded broadcaster pulled the video from its online channel
Al Jazeera has suspended two journalists involved in making a video downplaying the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The Qatari state-funded broadcaster pulled the video from its youth-focused channel AJ+ after it asserted the number of Jews killed had been exaggerated.
The seven-minute clip posted on Friday attracted some 1.1m views before it was removed by the network on Saturday.
Social media posts promoting the video on Friday carried the caption: “What is the truth of the Holocaust and how did the Zionist movement benefit from it?”
The video described Israel as the Shoah’s “greatest beneficiary” and claimed the Jewish state “adopted the narrative” that Nazis killed six million Jews.
It also claimed the community uses its “financial resources” and “media institutions” to focus coverage of the Holocaust on its Jewish victims.
Following immediate backlash, the network’s parent company Al Jazeera Media Network said in a statement on Sunday that the video “contravened its editorial standards”.
Yaser Bishr, executive director of Al Jazeera’s digital division, said the network “completely disowns the offensive content in question.”
“Al Jazeera continues to adhere to the journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity,” the network said.
In an email to staff, Bishr announced the network would roll out a mandatory “bias and sensitivity” training programme.
Spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Emmanuel Nahshon described the video as “the worst kind of pernicious evil”.
“That’s how Al Jazeera brainwashes young people in the Arab world and perpetuates hatred of Israel and the Jews,” he said.
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